CastHero

Cast to TV

Your photos, videos and music on the big screen. In seconds.

CastHero is a Roku channel that turns your TV into a receiver. Send a link, a photo, a song, or a whole album from your phone or computer and it plays instantly. No account, no pairing, no sign-in.

Get it on Roku How it works

Video

MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV, WebM files and HLS or DASH streams, live or on demand, with a clean timeline and hold-to-scrub seeking.

Photos

JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF and BMP, full screen on your TV.

Music

MP3, AAC, M4A, FLAC, WAV and internet radio, with album artwork on screen.

Albums

Stream a whole list of photos, videos and songs back to back, with fade, slide or zoom transitions and your own timing for every photo.

How it works

1. Install CastHero - Cast to TV from the Roku Streaming Store (or add it with access code PHT6JK5).
2. Open it. The home screen shows the TV's address and a pulsing "CastHero is ready" indicator.
3. From a phone or computer on the same Wi-Fi, send a media link to the TV with the CastHero app or any tool that speaks the CastHero API below.

Apps

The CastHero apps for Android and iOS and the Chrome extension are in development. Until then, any HTTP client on your network can cast, see the API below.

Developer API

CastHero listens on the Roku's local control port. One POST casts anything:

POST http://<TV_IP>:8060/input?url=<media url, URL-encoded>&title=<title>

# album: URLs joined with | , 10 seconds per photo, zoom transition, looping
POST http://<TV_IP>:8060/input?urls=<url1>%7C<url2>%7C<url3>&photoDuration=10&transition=zoom&loop=true

# controls
POST http://<TV_IP>:8060/input?command=pause | play | next | previous | seek&position=120 | stop

If the channel is not open yet, use /launch/880263?... instead of /input?.... The full parameter list, playlist JSON format, discovery and Kotlin/Swift examples are in the developer guide shipped with the project.